Greatest Guitarists Ever

1. Gary Moore

2. Jimi Hendrix

3. Jimmy Page

4. Chet Atkins

5. Randy Rhoads

6. Angus Young

7. Stevie Ray Vaughan

8. Mark Knopfler

9. David Gilmour

10. Eddie Van Halen 

Just my opinion ....

Andre Segovia

Julian Bream

Joe Satriani

1. Mark Knoffler

2. The chap from 1D who is seen holding a guitar in one of the videos.

3. David St Hubbins

4. Qatar

5. Ringo Starr

A good rock guitarist list  KiwiM. I said here before Ritchie Blackmore used one the readers best guitarist vote for Sounds, (Heavy metal newspaper), magazine for about 5 years on the trot during the 80's.

Guitarists I like include, George Harrison, Dick Dale, Ron Ashton, Dave Davies, Bob Mould, Graham Coxon,  Johnny Ramone, J Masics, Tony Iommi, Johnny Marr, Mick Ronson, Alex Lifeson, (always underrated probably my fav), Lou Reed, (underrated), John Williams on Kate Bush's The Morning Fog - sweetest guitar.  God there are gazillions, you could go on forever and I'm fairly clueless about the technical aspects of guitar playing I only learned a little.

Segovia >>>>>>>>>>> Bream > Williams (very good - no slouch).

Sublime is very apt for the maestro.

Saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in ChCh. gggggreat.

Santana, The Edge.

Prince

George Benson

Johnny Marr

Kenny Burrell 

Wendy Melvoin

Pete Townsend

Nile Rodgers

Steve Salas

Duane Allman 

Shayne Carter

No Obafemi Martins?

Have any of you heard of Joe Bonamassa? Awesome guitarist.

Also agree with Townshend, Gilmour, Gary Moore, Hendricks. Then there's Steve Stevens, Steve Morse, Alvin Lee from "10 years After" (See Woodstock for him) Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton.

Adrian Smith.

Django Reinhardt,Joe Pass,Tom Morello,Guthrie Govan

Nick McCabe (the Verve)

Nile Rodgers

Bernard Butler

Any thoughts on NZ's best guitarist?

Shayne Carter might be the best song-writer who plays guitar

local Chch style , Van Elkyalem, Tim Martin, Diego Hariswara all have groove + chops

Aaron Tokona from Cairo Knife Fight (ex - Weta) is way cool

liked Michael Smith on the Hangman record

Paul Mclaney and Dave Holmes on the criminally underrated Gramsci records

Sam Browne (Black River Drive) has more chops than he puts on the pop records. 

old school Bob Heinz , Billy TK, Harvey Mann, Eddie Hansen, Arnie van Bussel. 

all your lists need more Brian May

Excuse my ignorance but is Clapton not rated by music heads?

well, um.

late '60s stuff is universially well recieved

pretty much everything else since less so.

FWIW I like the Montreux gig with Gadd, Miller , Sanborn and Sample. 

and his riff and vocal on "Pilgrim". 

This.

 Not a fan myself but  from what I've read it's the stuff he did with the Bluesbreakers and Cream where he really went to the top, by all accounts, I've only ever really listened to Cream.

 The guy had big issues with drugs and booze through the late 70's and 80's so it's hardly suprising he was not considered a major influence then.

I've sat on this for a couple of days because I wanted to see what came out and I'm frightfully surprised that Clapton is not mentioned more or gets dismissed on the basis of 'well he had some issues there'. Name a muso from that era who has not had an issue and none more painfully obvious than the pooped up mofo that is Ozzy Ozbourne. They key thing is that he has lasted, still playing and some of his stuff now is better than ever. There were a couple of poor albums in the middle there but I then look at the Unplugged album, and while its easy to fall onto that cliche and say 'well it sold well', he went and did something that was well out of the norm for his way of doing things - I don't see Brian May for example doing an acoustic record. I think he challenged himself to spread across a number of areas where as I do like Brian May, he limits himself very much to electric rock guitar and nothing else. I think more than anything else, I can pick Claptons playing from 50 yards out on a short run up.

I think the conversation itself is all very subjective because it tends to lean on what type of music you like and are you basing it on guitarists that are technically proficient or guitarists that create the best hooks? The two are not necessarily the same or exclusive but when I look at nufc's call of The Edge, well I say laugh and say hell no because he lives and dies by his effects board and his delay pedal HOWEVER, he does create some good hooks so earns recognition on the strength of commercialism. I then laugh at motherfuckers like Eddie van Halen who rave about how Clapton and his Gibson influenced him yet Clapton really only lived on the Les Paul for about 5 years and has been predominately Fender his entire career. If you are a shredhead, you are gonna suck on your Woodstock can and preach the virtues of how Kirk Hammett is a god, where I think he is a bit of a hack (relative to the conversation)

I find it very hard to compare the guitarists from across different genres because the styles are so different. For me, Clapton is god and the rest come second. There is a big list though and some are there for different reasons - Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Muddy Waters, Ry Cooder, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Marc Antoine, Brian May, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, Lou Reed, Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, John Mayer, John Frusicante, Robert Johnson, John Mayall, Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Tom Morello, Steve Cropper, John Lee Hooker, BB King, JJ Cale, Dave Navarro, Curtis Mayfield, Prince, Johnny Ramone, Bo Diddley, Tony Iommi, Albert King,  Keith Richards. It might read like a veritable list from Rolling Stone but then there are guys I don't get, Van Halen is one I mentioned and I have never gotten. Satriani or Santana (whom to me has relegated himself to pimping with singers and adding little fill ins to show he was there) or Steve Vai and while ACDC have some good tunes, I just see Angus Young as a bit of cock. I have just found a French Canadian guy called Antoine Dufour on iTunes whom is very slick but he is very much of the flamenco mold ala Marc Antoine. Joe Bonamassa I tried listening to but can't get him LG. Give me a song recommendation.

From a female persepctive, its hard to go past Bonnie Raitt (as much as I hate country she is technically sound) There aren't many I could think of so I just googled and found a really strange lot here. (http://www.guitarplanet.eu/the-top-5-female-guitarists-in-the-world-right-now.html) The one they rave about (St Vincent) lord give me strength. Just all down strokes and no form. The aussie girl Orianthi would be one I would not mind seeing play naked in my house.

As a foot note, I like the Foo Fighters and thats cause my son got me into them but then I laugh cause he tells me how great a guitarist he is. He is a good musician but don't confuse the two. Dave Grohl lives inside the box on the neck and that is all. Do not get me started on all these indie weirdos with their cardigans and straggly hair, that really need to be taken out back and given a berroca and a barrel of sugar so they show a little bit of life about themselves for 5 mins.

I might add that while I can talk a bit of smack, I only have a Fender acoustic that I fiddle on. Picked it up for a steal in '95. Has a fantastic sound. Incidentally, I recommend this guy if you need yours looking at. His blog is just out of this world showing the work he does as a luthier.

http://www.mrglyn.co.nz

http://www.mrglyn.blogspot.co.nz

heard lots of good things about Mr Glyn

guy in Lyttelton called Pete Stephens is also awesome

wouldn't be bothered about having "only 1 guitar". There sis a school of thought that beleives that is all you need. 

Joe Bonammasa - Accoustic:Slow Train

Any of you aficionados rate Ry Cooder?

Ry Cooder, of course. Tend to think of him as a musician/soundtrack/composer than just as a guitarist, but I do like his style. Crossroads, Southern Comfort......

Todd Rundgrn anyone?

Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo (hard to separate)

Juliana Vieira (Brazil), up and coming guitarist .....

I have a Paddy Burgin acoustic. He is a Wellington luthier. It's a beautiful thing. Simple, but lovely rosewood and spruce. Sounds great.

http://www.luthiercentral.com/paddy-burgin-master-luthier-burgin-guitars-wellington-new-zealand-cms-24

Johnny Winter,Roy Buchanan, Robby Krieger

so best guitar song?

given I only know Clapton I'll go for Layla

.The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again.

or

Dire Straits - Telegraph Road

Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb

Jimi Hendrix- Johnny B. Goode

AC/DC - Thunderstruck

Michael Jackson- Beat It

Prince - Guitar

Black Crowes - Remedy

The Smiths - This Charming Man

Jeff Beck - Cause We've Ended As Lovers

Living Color - Cult of Personality

Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash

Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft

included some fine bass and drumming too

Anyone seen this?

Neil Peart drum solo - the best?

Try this one, Prince is pretty damn good on it too.

Guitars

always dug Dhani's look when he sees Prince walk onstage.

Prince had a beef with YouTube (and the Internet in general) so a lot of his stuff can be difficult to access. Try the News and the Rainbow Children for some pretty wild Jazz/Funk chops.

so best guitar song?

Drums -

Billy Cobham

Sheila E, John Blackman, Michael Bland

Steve Gadd

Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Max Roach